The present invention relates to a device for dewatering a room or basement and more particularly to a channel forming dewatering device that prevents water from advancing into a room or basement.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that basements and other rooms below ground tend to flood because of the water that is under pressure being forced through the walls of a room or basement. Further, those skilled in the art recognize that uncontrolled water can cause mildew, buckling of wood, and other more serious damage. To this end, there have been several attempts to provide a device for dewatering a below ground room.
Once such attempt was disclosed by R. L. Cotten in U.S. Pat. No. 3,344,565, issued Oct. 3, 1967. The Cotten device discloses a "Basement Drain Conduit". The Cotten device catches the seepage as it comes into the walls and directs it down a channel down a drain. However, Cotten did not realize that the plastic conduit is not effectively attached by the adhesives used in this art. Moreover, Cotten did not realize that flooring materials such as concrete often shrink and expand at a greater rate than the plastic conduit.
Another attempt at controlling the flow of liquids is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,034, issued to Jarnagin et al. Jan. 17, 1989. Jarnagin discloses a "Method and Apparatus for Collecting and Discharging Radon Gas and Fluids". Jarnagin did not realize the difficulty in attaching a plastic to a concrete floor. Also, Jarnagin did not realize that the conduit material expands and contracts at a rate much less than the floor and wall materials.
What is needed, then, is a dewatering device that keeps the water from advancing away from the walls. This needed dewatering device must also be made of a material that allows attachment to floor materials such as concrete. Moreover, this dewatering device must also have grooves in it to receive the adhesive to ensure better connection between the device and the floor. However, this device must be inexpensive enough to be economically applied. Such a device is lacking in the prior art.